Ballast-screening machine.



.HARRIS & W. F. MUFF.

BALLAST SCREENING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILE'D APR. 24. 1916.

Ptllted FCL). 6, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1 mu aan um www Mom W. F. MUFF G. C. I-IHRRIS n 0 D @ont .unDaD G. C. HARRIS & W. F. MUFF.

BALLAST scREENmG MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 24, |916.

Patented Feb. 6, 1917.

2 SHEETS--SHEET 2 4) chinevbeing so light that 'it may be quickly removed from the hand car' or readily re-v placed thereon, the power to operate the .machine being taken from the motor used -for operating the hand car.

GEORGE C. HARRIS, PEABODY, AND WILLIAM F. MUFF, F NEWTON, SAS.

esteem.

Specification of Letters Yatent.

' Patented Feb. 6, 19T?.

Application led April 9A, 1916.' Serial No. 93,2()5.

To all whom t may concern. n Be it knownthat we, GEORGE C. Harms and WILLMM F. MUFF, citizens. of the United States, residing at Peabody and Newton, respectively, in the counties of Marion and Harvey and State of Kansas, have invented certain newand useful lmprovements in Ballast-Screening Machines', of which the -following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings. v

This invention is a ballast screening machine.

The usual method of screening and placing the ballast in a road-bed, such as that of a railroad, is by hand. This method, is costly and consumes considerable time. In

the hand method, a screen box is set up 1n a slanting position somewhere on the right lac of way, the gravel to be screened is brought to the box, thrown against the meshes 0f.

'the screen, thus causing thedirt and refuse to fall through. The gravel is thenshoveled up, put into wheelbarrows and transported to-'the various points, where it is desired to place it. This requires much manuallabor and is very slow and ineiiicient, as not many cubic yards of gravel can. be screened -in one day. This makes for a high labor cost.

This invention aims to overcome the above objections found in existing methods and has, for an object 4to provide an easily transportable machine for cleaning andvdepositing ballast.

. A 'further object of the invention is to provide a ballast screening machine which is adapted to be mounted upon a hand car and readily demounted therefrom so that the hand car may be removed 'from the track to permit the passage of a train, the ma- Another object is to vprovide a machine wherein the refuse is separated from the l --ballastand vdeposited away `from the roadbed.

A still further object is to provide a machine which will require little power for operation, not liable to derangement com- A prising a minimum of. parts and depositing the materials with a low labor cost.

Another aim is to provide a machine in which the .operations of conveying screening and depositing the ballast and refuse are continuously and consecutively done.

A purpose of the invention is to provide amachine that may be readily attachedior` conveyer, driving elements` for the Several conveyers and the screen, and means to connect the driving elementswith a suitable source of power.

' A practical form of invention is disclosed in the accompanyingdrawings, in which- Figure l is a side elevation; F ig. 2 is a perspective view; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the screen end; Fig. 4 is an elevation of the conveyer end.

As shown in Fig. `1, there is .a framework provided for supporting the various elements in their operative positions with reference to each other. This frame-work consists of a plurality of bottom sills v 5.

This provides a foundation to which the stanchions 6, 7 and 8 are connected at their lower ends. These stanchions may be connected in any suitable manner. /Extending outwardly from' the stanchion 6 near its upper end is a top sill or chord member 9 which at its outer end is connected to the bottom sill 5. These two sills may be connected in any suitable form or manner. cured -to this top sill 9 lin any preferred manner. At the outer end' or juncture of the two sills 5 and 49, there is positioned an adjustable pulley l0. Over lthis adjustable pulley l0 runs a conveyer belt 11. This conveyer belt is of the usual or customary endless type and runs over another pulley shown at 12. This pulley 12 is mounted in any suitable mannenas for instance by the ordinary or common form of bearing 13. This bearing 13 may be carried by or secured to the stanchions 7:? A trough orl chute 14 is provided for the conveying of' the material by'means of the conveyer belt 11.l This conveyer trough may be of any preferred form.y though, as disclosed in this device, it is of the usual or customary trough form having somewhat flaring sides. To maintain the top sills ina spaced rela. tion and 4to afford additional strength, a

The stanchions 7 and 8 may be' sebrace A1.5 connects the two sills at a convenient' point intermediate of the ends of the top sills. Connected to the to of the stanchion 6 is another sill 16. This sill 16 extends rearwardly and connects in a suitable manner with" the bottom sill 5. Across the tops of the stanchions 6, there may be placed the brace 17 which will tend to make the structure more secure and stable. To this brace 17 there may be connected or suspended therefrom'in any suitable manner, a bearing 18 of any preferred type. Suitably positioned upon the stanchions 6, is an idler pulley '19. Over this idler pulley runs a chain belt 20.

At the rear or screen end of the machine, are positioned two suitable supporting members 21. These supporting members are secured to the bottom sills -5 in any suitable manner. These supporting members 21 also carry bearings 22 in which revolves a shaft 23. Disposed on this shaft is a sprocket wheel 24. The chain 20 coperates with this sprocket 24, the idler pulley 19 and a 25 -sprocket 25 carried on the shaft 26. This shaft 26, the sprocket 25 and the pulley 12 are mounted upon the stanchion 7. Also disposed on the shaft 23 is a beveled pinion 27. Coperating with the beveled pinion 2'? is a beveled gear 28 mounted on the shaft 29. This shaft 29 revolves in suitable bearings 30 which may be mounted upon a cross brace 31 which connects the supporting members 21 together. The other end of the shaft 29 is carried in the bearing 18. Secured to the shaft 29 in any suitable manner, such as is shown by the arms 32 extending outwardly, is the revolving screen 33. The revolving screen 33 is preferably disposed at an angle and revolves concentrically with the shaft 29 to which it is secured. This revolving screen may have its foraminous openings .of any suitable size or shape, though in the present device it is thought preferable to make them of circular form. This revolving screen may be made of one piece of metal formed into cylindrical shape or it may be made of segments which may be attached to each other in any suitable manner and thereby form an entire screen. Positioned between the revolving screen 33 and the conveyer trough14 is another trough or apron 34 for conveying material brought up by the conveyer belt 11 to the screen 33. This permits the gravel and dirt to` be continuously fed into the revolving screen. Positioned below the revolving screen 33 isl another conveyer belt 35, which will convey the refuse away from the road bed. This conveyer belt runs upon suitably mounted pulleys, one of which is indicated at 36 and another at 37. The pulley 36 is mounted on a bearing block 38 on the stanchion 6. The pulleys 37 may be mounted in asimilar manner or in any other suitable way, as

Ashown at 42 in the bottom sill Disposed driven. This makes a very compact form of machine. y

By mounting the screening mechanism as above described, the machine is adapted for practical use on railroad lines 'inasmuch' as the machine may be readily removed from the hand car itself and the hand car readily removed from the track to permit the passage of a train.v If this were not the case the machine with its supporting car would 'have' to be run oli' on a siding every little while to permit the passage of a train and then run 'back again to'the place where the ballast is bein screened. The waste of time consequent from this operation and the cost in wages paid to the crew of t he car when the ballast screening machine is out of 'oper ation and waiting on a siding, wouldrender the cost of screening ballast by this means excessive and practically prohibitive.

In operation, the material to be screened is thrown upon the conveyer belt 11, which travels in the trough 14 and is conveyed to the trough 34, thence to the revolving screen`v 33. This screen 33, byits continued rotation, screens the dirt,from the gravel, the dirt and refuse dropping onto the conveyer belt 35, which deposits it on the apron 39 by'means of a scraper or de-l fiector 43. This deflector or scraper may be suitably supported so that it may be made adjustable with reference to the conveyer and to its point for deflection. One means is shown by the supporting arm 44 which is connected to the frame. This apron 39 disposes of the dirt and refuse at some distance from the road-bed. As the screen 33, mounted on the shaft 29 is preferably disposed at an angle with the sill member 5, its continued rotation causesl the screened gravel to pass to its lower end, Where by means of a suitable discharge chute, the trough 45 positions the lgravel between the ties. Through i this method, there is only one shoveling operation necessary and that is the one at the time of placing the material in the conveyer trough and upon the conveyer. In orderto maintain the tension for the proper conveying of the material by the conveyer belt 11, the pulley 10 is referably made adjustable and one form ofp adjusting means is shown at 41. In practice, it may be found desirable Thel to vary thetension inthe chain belt in order that the best results may be lobtained from its use and, to this end, the pulley 19 ma also be made adjustable,`

he several and various parts of this ma` chine may be made of such suitable material,

as will best adapt the machine forpractical useto the end that it may have vsuilicient `strength and rigidity in all of its parts to perform the various fimctions required of it.

Minor changes inform and detailsof construction may be resorted to without departing from the spirit of-our invention or from the scope of the appended claims. v

` Having described our invention, what we claim is :a-

l; The combination with a motor operated hand car having laterally` extending supporting beams, of a ballast screening mechanism comprising a supporting frame 'normally resting upon the beams, a rotatable screen mounted thereon and discharging at one end of the iframe, a' conveyer delivering into the rear end of the screen and extending to the other end of the frame, and a con-4 veyer extending' below the whole length of the screen to receive the waste discharged from the screem means for causing the discharge of materials from the last l named conveyer laterally beyond the frame, and a unitary driving means for the screen and the conveyer operatively driven by the hand car motor.

2. A ballast screening machine comprising a supporting frame having longitudinally directed sills, a rotatable upwardly 'inclined screen operatively supported upon the sills and above the ysame and extending longitudinally of the sills, said screen dis'- charging at one end .of the frame, a conveyer extending from the opposite end of the frame to the raised end ofthe screen and discharging thereinto, a beltconveyer operframe, a transverse shaft mounted in ,saidv' last named end of the frame and operatively geared. to the screen and having a sprocket wheel, a belt conveyer operatively supported 4upon the frame above the sill beams and extending be'yond the sill beams'at one end, a shaft` upon which the conveyer is mounted having a sprocket wheel geared with the first named `sprocket wheel,' said' shaft constituting a driving shaft, a chute discharging into the upper end of the screen and onto which said conveyer. discharges, a belt conveyer .operatively supported upon the frame above thesill beams and disposed beneath the entire length of the screen, means driven by said driving belt conveyer 1n its upper flight moving upward and toward the upper end of the screen, and a laterally disposed chute into which said last named conveyer discharges, the chute being supported upon the frame and extending laterally beyond the frame;

'In testimony whereof we hereunto aiix our signatures in the presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE o.- HARRIS. WILLIAM F. MUFF.

- Witnesses: I

A. G. Noms, l

HARRY OBRIEN.

shaft operating with saidv 

